New front seats installed, home-made brackets and seat sliders. photos included
For a few years now I wanted to replace my original black cloth front seats. They had the usual wear, some rips on the drivers side seat and some color fade. I didn't want to have them recovered because it didnt seem worth the $, and didn't want to do the typical 4th gen seat swap. After doing some research on the usual fbody sites ... I found a set of affordable black cloth seats. Jim from thirdgen.org (Jim85iroc) has a company that sells lots of parts for 3rd gens, and I went through his site.
The seats are by a company called Yonaka (which is Japaneese.. and I wish it wasn't, but they are solid and far less expensive than american brands for seats). The model seat is "samurai", and I got them in all black cloth. They don't have all wild logos onthe front or the name embroidered in the headrest.. so they are nice and clean looking. They cost $350.00 for the pair, which after shipping was only $420 total. The main reason I got these.. is because they actually WILL fit inside the seat "pockets" for third gen camaro cars (between the door handle and center console and lower seat belt mounts). Many other seats from other companies will not fit because of the width. old seats; http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/028.jpg old seat next to new one. rear view. i will be making the wite letter black so it is not seen: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../HAWAII094.jpg front view.. the new seats are a few inches taller than the old ones: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../HAWAII095.jpg underside view: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../HAWAII096.jpg because the new seats will obviously NOT line up with the seat bolt mounts for the stock seats.. I had to make my own brackets out of some mild steel ... i know the welds are not perfect. im only a few months into learnign to mig weld.. using a Lincoln 140-T welder with .030 flux core wire http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/060.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/062.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/064.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/066.jpg one mount (pass side) with the standard type sliders that the seats comes with... mounted to one bracket http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/068.jpg |
more photos continued from the post above...
the brackets for the drivers side seat: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...SEATS/0092.jpg passenger side all painted up: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/034.jpg pass seat brackets mounted... view from underneath; http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/081.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/018.jpg ---and yes, the metal flatstock on the one bracket had to be offset the way it is, so that the bolt holes would not be at the edge of the flat pieces drivers side brackets from underneath: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/006.jpg |
seats now installed in the car:
fully slid back to the rear: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/021.jpg they don't stay that far back. i keep them slid up a few inches more...for a normal look, but they slide fornt/back enough that a person could actually fit in the back seat http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/022.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/029.jpg drivers side view http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/030.jpg from the trunk: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../SEATS/085.jpg again.. ** THESE SEATS WILL NOT DIRECTLY BOLT IN.. you either have to build your own brackets... or modify your original stock sliders.. if you modify your stock brackets/sliders... the seats will probably hit the roof.. since they are so much taller. they are comfortable but not as soft/comfy as the old ones.. which is fine. these have the side-bolsters that actually keep you seated in place when you corner hard too. the only thing I need to do is throw a few 1/4" spacers under the drivers side seat so that it is exactly the same height as the passenger side seat.. -the other thing I need to look into is for a shoulder-area seat belt guide.. you know. that triangle plastic piece that sets the height of the belt by your shoulder. I do NOT want to use the stock ones.. they are very large and obtrusive. I'm looking for something sleek and clean looking. It can be from any make/model vehicle.. I'll find a way to mount it if it looks good. anyone know of any seat belt guide/retainers by any chance? |
Good work! As for the seatbelt guide, I have been thinking of clever ways to reroute the seatbelt but have ultimately failed. I'm still thinking about what to do. I have more options than you because my seats have detachable headrests so I will likely end up fabbing something that mounts to there.
What sliders did you use? |
sorry, i forgot to mention in my post.. i used the sliders that come with teh seats. my fault. the 2 seats come with 4 sliders (2 for each seat) and the mounting hardware,, which I wasnt able to use because of the way I designed the brackets. i just got some low-profile headed bolts and washers and nuts ... and used them
yea i'll be lookign around this winter for some seatbelt guides, nothing too crazy. just clean and low-profile |
Build a second air and I would gladly pay good money for those. I tried to make adapters for the seats I have in my car but at the time I didn't really have the skill to pull it off properly! Looks great though
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looks great
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Wow man, that looks really really good.
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less is always more, love the plainess of the seats, nice upgrade, and great job on the brackets.
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thanks guys. yea i didnt want seats with many colors or company names printed all over them. i like the clean look. the shoulder bolsters and side bolsters make it a snug fit and u dont move around nearly as much as when in the original seats. sux that it is time to put the car away for winter in a few weeks.
ar0ck: not sure how mcuh time i have to build another pair for ya, winter is going to be busy for me. but if things change ill elt u know. its a fun project.. and im a beginner welder, so its somethign we can all prob do on our own with time and patience |
Great job on the bracket fab.
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